The feast of the giants, represents together with the feast of the vara a popular event very felt by the city of Messina. The celebrations consist in making to parade for the central streets of the city the two giants in papier-mâché, followed from musical bands and artists. The two giants on horseback represent a white woman with Mediterranean features called Mata and a Moorish man of Arab origin called Grifone. Legend has it that the Moor named Hassan, landed in Messina in order to sack the city and during the operations of sacking, he met Mata, a young woman from the Camaro district of Messina. Hassan fell deeply in love with the girl, but the girl refused to marry him, so the young Arab decided to kidnap her. The young Mata told the young Arab that she would have married him, only if he would have converted to Christianity and would have stopped plundering the cities and become a good man. The young Hassan for love converted to Christianity, stopped plundering the cities and was baptized with the name of Griffin.
